The justices in the case were reluctant in coming to their findings and invited Parliament to reconsider the law on divorce.

This led to the government announcing an intention to reform the law on divorce to remove the requirement to demonstrate irretrievable breakdown of a marriage with reference to one of the five grounds in s1 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.

[2] Section 1 of the act amended the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 allowing for parties to apply to the court for a divorce by stating that the marriage had broken down irretrievably without apportioning blame on either party.

[3] Section 2 of the act provides for changes to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 where an application of judicial separation has been made and removes the requirement for factual grounds to be provided where a judicial separation is sought.

[4] Sections 3 to 5 makes similar changes to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 to allow for the parties to apply to the court for dissolution by way of a statement that the civil partnership has broken down irretrievably.